1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is concerned with the field of farrier, that is the art and science of horseshoeing.
The present invention is more particularly concerned with providing a basic horseshoe structure that is readily adaptable to a multitude of requirements of customized shoe structures and to provide such structures without the necessity of carrying a large stock of parts or possession of great skill with a forge.
According to this invention, it is now possible to provide such items cheaply and rapidly. They may be fabricated with a minimum level of skill on the part of the farrier, in a short period of time, without a forge.
The farrier trade is one which in the past generally required a high degree of skill to custom-form shoes with use of hot forge in cases where particular modifications such as heel calks, trailers, trailers with heel calks, heart bar shoes, egg bar shoes, bar shoes and various other modifications required for running or working conditions or for correcting pathological conditions in the horse's hoof or legs or to obtain gait effects and the like.
In the past, it something other than a plain shoe was required, it necessitated that a farrier carry a large stock of different types of shoes with it's attending inventory costs, transportation costs, economics of space and the like.
If the farrier does not possess a high degree of skill in working the forge, an excess amount of time was required.
There has been a great tendency recently because of economics, to use more stock shoes because of the general decrease in the level of skill of farriers. The practice of cold shoeing horses has vastly expanded in recent years because of these factors.
The present invention reduces the necessary inventory of the farrier by more than fifty percent.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a low cost and convenient method of being able to provide custom features in horseshoes which may be formulated from a limited number of stock items and generally constructed without resort to hot shoeing techniques. These ends are achieved by providing a horseshoe stock piece in the usual number of sizes. The stock piece, however, is readily adapted to form standard shoes, shoes with heel calks, egg bar shoes, heart bar shoes and many other types of shoes to meet special running conditions and therapeutic needs of the animal involved.
It generally eliminates the need for a high degree of forge skill in building customized structures. The present invention is able to provide a method of forming such shoes, and applying the shoes rapidly at low cost without a high degree of skill being necessary and also drastically reducing forge time. It permits the immediate application in emergency situation e.g. instances of bowed or severed tendons where an egg bar or similar shoe may be required to reduce further stress and or the risk of further injury to the deep flexor tendon.
2. Prior Art
C. Weitman, U.S. Pat. No. 64,604 discloses a horseshoe having calks which may be added without changing the shoe. The calks are in the form of the U-shaped clip. One arm of the U is on the under surface of the shoe, the base of the U on the edge of the shoe, and a shorter arm extending over the top of the shoe. A screw passes through the lower surface arm into a predrilled hole in the shoe in order to secure the calk. In the case of the heel calk, a notch parallel to the longitudinal axes of the swing of the shoe is formed on the top surface of the shoe to seek the upper end of the calk or a shorter arm into a notch of the shoe.
Sparks U.S. Pat. No. 4,386,660, discloses a shoe having a permanent front calk and an elaborate pair of holding members intermediate the shoe for removable securing the second calk position transversely to the longitudinal axis on the forward half of the shoe to improve turf gripping. The second calk does not extend downwardly as much as the front or toe calk. A very complex structure is involved.
Douglas U.S. Pat. No. 1,373,118, discloses detachable calks which are simply secured to the bottom of the shoe by screw fasteners with intermediate padding devices between the calk and the shoe.
In Baldwin & Swenson U.S. Pat. No. 1,269,897, detachable heel and toe calks are shown in which a threaded shank extends from the upper surface of the calk to be received in an appropriately threaded aperture located in the toe or the heel of the shoe. On a plate spaced from the threaded shank of the calk is an aperture in which a bolt is received to be threaded into another aperture in the lower surface of the shoe to prevent the shank from becoming unthreaded. These, in effect, are simply calks which are fastened onto the lower surface of the shoe by a pair of threaded fasteners.
Covington U.S. Pat. No. 1,189,543, discloses a horseshoe having recesses or notches in the sidewall for securing detachable calks, each notch having one or more threaded apertures for receiving a threaded fastening means for securing the detachable calks. Rather elaborate slotted notches are provided in all of the embodiments.
McGann U.S. 817,582, discloses a detachable heel bar calk for horseshoes which is secured by an elaborate threaded and wedge plate arrangement and does not have universal application.
The further patent to McGann, U.S. Pat. No. 817,583, is a related disclosure which includes rubber pads in the arrangement.
Cox U.S. 944,666, discloses detachable heel and toe calks which are secured to the shoe by a threaded shank with a key lock and spaced therefrom in a plate parallel to the lower surface of the shoe is a threaded aperture through which passes a smaller diameter screw stud into a second hole in the shoe.
Kieffer, U.S. 991,211, discloses removable calks which are attached to the shoe by being wedged into transverse undercut grooves in the lower surface of the shoes and held in the grooves by passing through the caulk and a hole in the face of the groove 1, passing through to the rear wall of the shoe and bolted.
Billado U.S. Pat. No. 1,027,804, discloses a shoe having removable calks which are secured to the lower surface of the shoe by threaded bolt means passing through a horizontal flange of the calk into the lower surface of the side which has a threaded aperture(s) matching the threaded bolt. The heel portion of the shoe on the lower surface is provided with a V-shaped groove in which a corresponding lug at the upper end of the heel calk is received to minimize the loosening of the calk.
Engstom & Bloom U.S. Pat. No. 1,075,34, discloses a shoe structure in which integral permanently fixed calks of the heel and toe are undercut on one side thereof to form a groove or recess for carrying a calk plate carrying a removable calk and the underside of the shoe has a threaded aperture to receive a threaded fastener such as a screw which passes through the calk plate into the shoe. The calk plate is retained by the threaded fastener and the undercut groove or recess. None of the disclosures in the foregoing references suggest the unique universally applicable horse shoe structure which applicant has devised.